1 killed as farmers, workers block roads

A demonstrator was shot dead Saturday as farmers and workers striking against Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada blockaded roads to the capital, causing fuel and food shortages.

Riot police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters in running street battles on the outskirts of the city while an explosion Friday destroyed a gas line into La Paz, officials said.

Protests by the country's poor Indian majority against the free market policies of Sanchez de Lozada have spiraled in the last month amid an economic downturn and growing poverty in this nation of 8 million people.